The Post
July 28, 2004

MECC building rededicated for student life
By JEFF LESTER, Senior Writer

BIG STONE GAP — Thirty-two years after its construction, Mountain Empire Community College's Holton Hall has taken on a dramatically new look and mission.

and Gap native, began its life as one of two original buildings on campus and home to some of MECC's first classes, Dean of Financial and Administrative Services Patti Cantrell told the crowd. Some of those classes, from handicrafts to plumbing, weren't being taught elsewhere in Virginia at the time, she said. Construction of Phillips-Taylor Hall in recent years created new space for most of the instructional facilities housed in Holton. All of the college’s business technology classes and some computer labs moved up the hill to Phillips-Taylor.

That allowed the college to begin planning a complete overhaul of Holton along with renovations to Godwin Hall. The roughly $2.5 million project was funded by a state higher education bond issue.

However, Cantrell noted, the project was delayed by a state government freeze on new building projects during the recent economic downturn. "We've waited about four years," Cantrell said. "It was well worth the wait."

Classrooms, offices and narrow hallways were gutted to make way for a giant open space where students can gather between classes. That includes a large dining area facing a wall of windows looking out on a spectacular view of Powell Valley. Behind the dining area are the new location for the bookstore and a game room with pool tables, a fooseball table and table hockey.

The college now has its first full-service dining facility, the Red Fox Grill, with food service provided by Ruby B's, a St. Paul-area restaurant and caterer.

Renovations also created the college's first one-stop career center, consolidating a variety of career counseling services now scattered among several departments.

Also, the far end of Holton Hall houses a new student services center, with offices for staff and a testing facility. There, new students will be tested to see if they need developmental courses, and students can take make-up tests or distance education tests.

Soon, the college will begin renovations on Godwin Hall, named after former Gov. Mills Godwin. The former student services suite and bookstore space will be converted to house the arts and sciences division and a shipping/receiving area. Also, Godwin will get a new faculty/staff lounge. The financial and administrative services department will be renovated and a biology lab will be enlarged.

Next year, Cantrell noted, construction will begin on a large patio in front of Holton Hall, along with student activity areas on each side and steps leading up the hill to Phillips-Taylor Hall.

Conley Winebarger, vice president for academic and student services, said he well remembers his days as a commuter student. His college's student center was a home away from home, a place where memories were made, he said. Now, MECC students will have the same opportunity to relax together on campus. "It's really part of what the college experience is all about."

Student Government Association president Jason Ingles agreed. He will be working in the recreation room, he said, and he can't wait to hear the first crack of the balls on the pool tables.

The college already has three buildings named for governors, Holton said. If the current lawmakers keep up the good work, maybe they'll have buildings on campus in their names some day, he quipped.

Later, Phillips noted that since Holton Hall was built, the rules have changed so that campus buildings cannot bear someone's name until that person has died. "So Terry and I are not too anxious to get that honor," he joked.

Holton said Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan recently called globalization a significant enhancement to the national economy. It's hard to face the loss of a local manufacturing plant, but Greenspan emphasized the need for Americans to gain the greater job skills needed by high-tech industries, he said. That's why higher education has become the greatest contribution to this region's economy, Holton said.

"If you build it, they'll come," he said. "If you create those skills in human resources, the jobs will come."

Phillips said before the rededication ceremony, he had been present when a business prospect toured the technology park near Wise. The prospect asked what the community college can do for them, he said, and he talked about MECC's ability to provide all sorts of training and support.

Phillips said he told the prospect that regional leaders are trying to bring the jobs Holton discussed — long-term careers with starting pay in the $40,000-60,000 range — and that MECC has met the challenge of helping prepare for them.

Robert Sandel, MECC's president from early 1992 to July 2001, recalled a meeting in Richmond at which the funds for Holton renovations were finally secured.

Phillips and Wampler serve on the House and Senate money committees, Sandel noted, and Kilgore was working hard to make sure they both supported the renovation project.
Phillips was solidly committed. But Wampler — one of a handful of conference committee
members who would negotiate the final version of the state budget — faced a giant list of competing funding interests, and state funds were tight.

One day, Kilgore grabbed Sandel and took him to a Senate Finance committee meeting. They got Wampler's attention as he sat at the committee table, hearing testimony. Finally, Kilgore took Wampler aside during a break and kept pushing until Wampler committed on the spot to support the project, Sandel said.

Sandel, now the head of Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, said MECC and far Southwest Virginia are very special to him. During his term at the college, he said, he was fortunate to see several major building projects completed or started.

“However,” Sandel said, "all a president does is get things going. It takes a great staff, community leaders and legislators to get things done, he said, adding that the college's hard workers have great leadership today in Suarez. "With Terry, you can't go wrong."

“MECC makes a difference every day in the lives of people aged 18 to 80,” Sandel said. “The addition of a true student center will fill a gap in the school's identity,” he said. "This is a first-class, wonderful facility."

After the speeches, college foundation director Donna Stanley presented the Slemp Foundation plaque, and a plaque for the student services section that honors longtime college supporter Helen Sutherland of Pound.

Finally, Suarez unveiled a portrait of Holton, from his days in the governor's office, that will hang in a hallway of the student center.

Copyright 2004 The Post. All rights reserved.
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